Last weekend was my daughter’s 12th birthday. We had grand plans that involved a day out with our family eating, drinking (soda of course), and being merry. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for us. A couple days before my daughter’s birthday we had received almost 20 inches of snowfall, and there was no chance of us going anywhere (or me buying any of the gifts I’d planned on purchasing for her). In a rather panicked frenzy I tweeted about my predicament: “What do I do…help me?”, and got a bunch of wonderful responses.

The top suggestion was to create a scavenger hunt, which was perfect (thank you so much everyone)! Then I thought I could take full advantage of the snow by surprising her with a project of making our own (almost) natural snow cone syrup (she loves anything involving cooking, and snow for that matter). I made a secretive list and then we bundled up and trekked to our two local grocery stores with empty backpacks on our backs. At the first store I made her wait up near the front for a minute and ran down a couple isles where I was able to pick up candy (for the scavenger hunt), party streamers (they had all the colors she was wishing for – yay) some candles, and neon food coloring (she is a kid after all). At the next store I again ducked down the isles and picked up ice cream, cream soda (her favorite), natural drink mix (kind of like kool-aid, but without the chemicals), and then got some $5 bills to also hide in the scavenger hunt.

To make it feel more festive (and age appropriate) I decorated an aqua desk with streamers at both ends and then wrapped the top in some pretty wrapping paper. Streamers were hung above and one of my coffee filter pom poms hung down above the table for an added touch.

Fortunately my daughter already had two pink trays (I didn’t think to pick up any festive paper plates), so I used them on the table as our dishes for breakfast.

The scavenger hunt began with a clue inside this striped box. Treat bags were filled with gum balls as party “favors.”

Here’s all the loot my daughter received from her scavenger hunt (the little boxes on the left held some of her prizes). She also found candy at every clue. Some of the prizes were $5 bills and others were “tickets” for larger gifts (the things I couldn’t buy because of the storm).

A newly-minted 12 year old and one of our favorite party guests!

Thanks for taking a peek at our party…and a big huge hug to all of you on Twitter who helped me out with your brilliant ideas! xo Ez

I absolutely LOVE this idea and the way you shared it with us. Sometimes it's really fun to work with what we have "on hand." The universe truly is abundant and we have so much. A little intervention on the part of Mother Nature can help us connect with that. Congrats on your daughter's 12th. Next year she's a TEENAGER. EEEK! My granddaughter becomes one of those in just a couple of months!

wow. this looks all sooooo beautiful. and the colors are all beautiful too. pink is my favorite color. and i guess you´re daughter was so happy about all those beautiful things you made for her… looks lovely. :)have a lovely day! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your daugther afterwards.xoxo, pink lady <3

What an amazing setting you rustled up! Love the pink straws – not seen those before. {I'm running a straw styling competition on my blog, you might like some of last year's winners.} And I always think vouchers for more treats are the best!

I would love to buy some striped paper straws, but I can´t find them im my country. I´m from Argentina by the way. a "no striped paper straw" country in south america. ajajaLovely, all of it…just lovely!chau chau!

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